During the Farnborough Airshow, Airbus signed a cooperation agreement with Blue Sky Alliance, covering the distribution of Consumables, Expendables and Standard Hardware (CES) for Airbus aircraft.

Blue Sky Alliance GmbH is a joint venture of three leading distributors, Avio-Diepen BV, Interturbine Logistik GmbH and Satair A/S. Airbus has chosen Blue Sky Alliance as a preferred partner for CES supply, because the company?s three partners are reliable CES specialists and have extensive experience within the aviation industry. By launching this CES access service, customers will in future have the choice to enter into individual agreements with Blue Sky Alliance to access a portfolio of up to two million part numbers from over 3,000 key suppliers through a sole source. With this initiative, Airbus will offer a new cost efficient way to procure Airbus consumable, expendable and standard hardware parts from a new focal point.

For Airbus operators, entering agreements with Blue Sky Alliance ensures an always bid guarantee, a 24/7 single point of contact, on-line access and state-of-the-art electronic ordering, fixed lead times combined with fixed competitive prices based on high purchasing volumes and substantially reduced administrative workload will be offered.

The customers will have maximum full flexibility of choice with Blue Sky Alliance, who will offer for individually agreed part number ranges customised lead times and service levels, monitored by Airbus.

With a global network of 19 distribution centres, Blue Sky Alliance will ensure their regional presence worldwide, holding an inventory representing over 200 million USD worth of parts. Headquartered near Hamburg in Germany, Blue Sky Alliance has opened their Customer Support in-house office at Airbus Material, Logistics and Suppliers headquarters in Hamburg.

Aligning Blue Sky Alliance with Airbus has several important operational benefits, the most significant being that this CES solution reduces material business complexity, allowing our customers to focus on their core business. While also tapping into our partners? vast resources, Airbus? customers will also achieve economies of scale they may possibly not achieve independently.